Flanging



April 13, 1926. 1,580,930

- G. E. THACKRAY FLANGING Filed Dec. 6,. 1922 x\\ lslil ii 1;; 1

INVENTOR Patented A r. 13, 1926.

UNITED STATES GEORGE E. THAGKBAY, OE WES'LMQNT IBQRQUGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLANGING.

' Application filed December 6, 1922. Serial No 605,327.

To all who-m it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. THAOKRAY, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the borough of Westmont, in the county of Cambria andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Flanging; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others,skilled in the art to which it appertains to 'make and use the same. i

My invention relates to flanging metal and particularly to'forming whatI call internal flanges, namely, pressed from a metal plate or othermet-a1 shape, including reentrant angles with or without curved corners.a

By an internal flange I mean one that is pressed or shaped from themarginal metal which surrounds a. notch or opening, or is idjacent to are-entrant angle n" the metal, andin doing this, part of the material ofthe flange and particularly the edge portion ofthe completed flange isof greater lineal dimensions than. before. 7 c

I have found that where attempts have been made to produce flanges ofthis kind there is a tendency for the metal to stretch in the internalangles and to a lesser extent in the metal adjacent thereto, and whenthe flange is of substantial width this action has a tendency to reduce,its cross section and in some cases to actually sever the material in ornear the re-entrant angle. An example of this is as follows :-If Istrive to form a flange around the margin of a notch or an opening in aplate,which opening is approximately 12 inches square and prefer ablyprovided with rounded corners, and the flange is to be integrally formedof the mar ginal metal which surrounds said opening and is to be pressedoutwardly and ultimately stand at an angle from the other material ofthe plate. that the lineal edge perimeter before flanging the opening ofthe flange would be 12 times 4 or L8 inches,

while if the flange is formed of uniform width the lineal perimeter ofthe edge of the flange, if it is 3 inches deep, would be four times 18inches or 72 inches, thus requiring the edge of the flange tostretch vonan average of per, cent. The stretch, however, under such conditions,would be time eejaeeatrated in the corners with the Hindi: att'lunningthe corner metal ta .ese

those which are shaped or than one-half its original thickness, and insome cases the metal in the corners might be torn, thus making a flangewhich is defective and useless. In formingflanges around openings ornotches of various other forms somewhat simllar results wlll occur, aswill be readily understood.

It is the object of my invention to obviate this difiiculty and to forminternal flanges without undue thinning or undue localization of saidthinning.

In order to accomplish this, for example, in the case of a metal plate,a notch or open ing will be first out therein and the plate thenheatedto'a good red heat, if the mate- 7 rial. is of such a nature to beworked more easily at such a temperature.

The hole or notch in the plate of such size that when superimposed uponthe bending die having an opening therein,,the upper corner fillets ofthe metal bounding the opening in the bottom die are at distances fromthe edges of the hole in the plate about equal to the depths or widthsof the various portions of'the integral flange to be formed thereon,which flange is preferably bent to shape by the action of a male or topdie having a projection which forces the margins of the plate adjacentthe hole into the bottom or female die.- In order to prevent unduethinning of the corners which are subject to excessive stretching by theenlargement of the lineal dimensions of the edge portion of the platewhen flanging, I arrange the surfaces of portions of the male dieadjacent the corners in'a sloping manner or with larger radii ofcurvature so that the operation of bending down these marginal portionsof the plateis not so abrupt. This arrangement of sloping surfaces onthe male die adjacent the corners of the hole in the plate will have theeffect of gradually pushing down the material which forms the cornerportions of the flanges and the portions adjacent thereto so as todistribute the thinning 'over alarger distance, with n1 cases I- peeteeto arrange the topdie trim offset sothat the earner portionsfofthefinhlqes arofdrawn or bent downwardly first while the adjacent sideor end portions aret'ree, thus allowing a plastic flow of more"nietaliirto' tl-ie eorne-r-s. A' fier this is done, the other portions of die,finish npon the bottom die, and thesef plates are each provided with anopening 5 therein, WlUCl] may he oi various forum, all of which,

howevicr;haveremnantangles which are the bending of the side and endportionsf'or I the margins with narrower portions.

Havm thus won a eneraldesorl )t'ion h C B3 *of any invention, I willnow, in order to make the matter more clear, refer to' tl1e shapecorresponding to the holster opening on atruck side frame wltha porparts of this speci annexed sheet of drawings," whiohforms charactersrefer to like, parts deigure l is a plantiew of apart of a bottom diehaving an opening therein of r on of the plate to "be flangedsuperin'i'posed thereon and having its marginal portions 'a-roje'ctfingover SilKtOPGHlDg;tlifllhfitQllll of the the surrounding theopeningpreferably having rounded upper corners; Figure'ii is a verticalsectional elevation -t hneILdI of Figure 7, showing the bot- T Q5 tomdie, the top die and-the I plate' in alien on '--tlie position on thebotton'i die prior to'the Hanging; Figure 3 elevation similar to Figure2 but showing in -e1evat1on another form of top :CllG' with slop- 30.

ingeoriiei portions adapted to bend or" form the flange in and adjacentto the eorners' Figure it-is a vertioal "sectional elevation through thetop and bottom dies showing the plate superimposed upon the bottom diewith its margins pro ectingover the open ng wthe'reiin; this top die,however, being of {slightly different form, as that part which terms theside flanges is offset and does not operate until afterthe .cornenportions are :presseddownwardly by the sloping corner r'pOT-UOZOS ot thedieyl igure 5 is a bottom )lanviewof the-to die i-llustrated in Ei 'ure2; Figure 6 is-a bottoni plan View of the top 3 die illustrated inFigure 3; Figure 8 11s a 45.v

bottom! plan view of the top die illustrated yiew of abortion ot a'plateafter the internal flange-1s formed thereon, as illustrated.

f-Referring now-to the characters 'of referenceolrthe drawings:r1 arebottom dies "each having an opening-2 therein; the mate rial-at theupper end of the "opening being preferably roundedor formed with curve*so asto more easily bend the, platejthis curye preferably'bemg ofthe'minimum size requiredior this purpose sothat almost'all -otthefiange-will be at 'substantially right angles -with ,the body of -theplate. The

part-of the plate immediately contiguous to the margins of the upper-dieis known as the bend line,--as this is the' line where the, go beginsfrom the body bending of the flan #ot the plate.

:As iiluS-trated in qtheyarious figures,-3 is a portion of a plate whloh1s superimposed.

preferably supplemented by rounded junctions or curved lillets, asshown, in order to avoid the square corners which are dlfiieult remakeand tend to Cllll'll-QG the material to be flanged. Themarginal,portions of the plates to he flanged area and in the variousillustrations 6 is"the flange formed around fi eation and in which like5 operation. The. top p'llu'iger or ram or the b iding' the margins oit'the plate As illustrated in Figures 3 and G, 10 is the top; or male diehaving sloping or beveled surfaces 11 at its'oorners, and these areadapted to gradually and progressivelybend down the corner portions orthe flange, the

' lower edge ot' this diealso having a round- "is a vertical sectionaling 12 as illustrated. t

As illustrated" ln-Figuies and %,13 is the topbr'Ina-le die hatingo'fi'set portions 14, formed asshownfwhi'oh,"as the die oper-'ates,'a're"adapted to Contact with the side port1onsof the flangeafter; the corn er' 'por tions hafve been "first :grac'lua-lly "presseddown, thus'allowmg the cornersto be shaped while at the same'tnnepermitting the material which formsthefiange to he maintained in thecorners'and tobe "drawn away from theside portions, asthisisdone inorder to.

pievent undue thinning of the corner portions. The die lg alsohassloping orchamfer-ed corners 15 'whioh gradually' b'eiid' the "cornerportions ottheplate, and 16 is thi "bottonroi son'ie'what T shapedlowerface oi the'die -13.

--in Figm'emand Figure7 is a pe rspective My invention: operates asfollou' s:+A plate 3 'h'asafhole 5 out therein 'to'ai'iy shape desired,which, however, has re-entrant 'faiigles 'orfoo'rners provided withrounded fillets for the reasons heretoforestated, j and this plate isthen placed over the opening in'the bottom' dief 1 "when the" top dieisin its "upper position. guitable gauges (not shown)-may be" used to holdthe plate in position on the bottom'dio, after which the top 'die ispushed downwardly and b'eu'ds the marginal portions of the ijlateintothe open- G visfOrmed thereon-as illustrated in"Figure 7. w v

By reason of the oonstru'otion'and conformation of myjdies thecornerportions which would otherwise be drawn thin or severed are graduallypulledfbent or drawn into shape in such a wayfthat the straighter orsideportions' of the flange are pressed dowinvardly more by purebending, and while this is done the plastic flow of the material is suchthat the material flows toward and into the corner portions to maintaintheir thicknesses. The sloping sides of the dies also have a diagonalwiping or drawing action which has a tendency to pull the material fromthe side or end portions of the flange into the corners to maintaintheir thickness as nearly as possible.

Although I have shown and described my invention in considerable detail,I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details thereof,as shown and described, but

may use such modifications in, substitutions for, or equivalents thereofas are embraced within the scope of my invention or as pointed out inthe claims.

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is I l. The method of flanging a plate around an openingof substantially rectangular shape therein, which consists in bendingthe corner portions thereof by a progressive bending action while theadjacent side and end portions are substantially free, and then bendingsaid side and end portions.

2. The method of hanging a metal plate around an opening therein, whichconsists in first cutting said opening to theform desired withre-entrant corners, then gradually and progressively bending the cornerportions while bending the side or end portions more abruptly.

3. The method of fianging a metal plate around an opening therein, whichconsists in first making said opening to the form desired withre-entrant corners, then graduallyand progressively bending the cornerportions while the adjacent side portions and end portions aresubstantially free, and then finishing the flange by bending said sideand end portions.

4. Apparatus for forming an internal flange on a plate around an openinghaving re-entrant angles, preferably with rounded corners, comprising abottom die having an opening therein substantially conforming to theoutline of said flange, a male die cooperating therewith having aprojecting portion of shape similar to the opening in the bottom die butof lesser size, the corner portions of said male die'being slopin 5.Apparatus for forming an internal flange on a plate around an openinghaving re-entrant angles, preferably with rounded corners, comprising abottom die having an opening therein substantially conforming to theoutline of said flange, a male die co-opcrating therewith having aprojecting portion of shape similar to the opening in the therein havingre-entrant corners, compris- I bottom die but of lesser size, cornerpor- V ing a bottom die having an opening substan-1 tially conforming tothe outline, of the gen oral shape ofsaidfiange, and having rounded edgeportions, a male die adapted to cooperate therewith having a projectingportion of shape similar to the opening in the bottom'die but of lessersize by an amount about equal to twice the thickness of the metal to beflanged, two of the corner portions of said male die which form. thecorners of the flange being sloping, and other portions adjacent theretowhich form the side and end flanges offset therefrom, so as to act laterin the movement of said male die.

In witness whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

GEORGE E. THACKRAY.

